Hundreds of thousands of people have used Jeff Galloway’s Run-Walk-Run training method to cross the finish line for the first time or improve their race times pain-free. While most people assume that means injury-free training (which is part of it), a new article in the New York Times highlights that walk breaks also take the pain out of your race.

Researchers in Germany wanted to see if walk breaks could reduce the enzymatic stress signals often seen after a marathon. While the walk breaks didn’t seem to lesson these enzymes, the test group using walk breaks did report that they felt less fatigue and muscle soreness after their race compared to the control group (who ran continuously). In addition, every member of the walk break group was able to finish the race (with comparable times to the continuous running group) while two members of the other group were unable to finish the race and had to drop out.

It’s just another benefit of incorporating walk breaks into your race pace. If you want to learn more about why walk breaks actually make you run faster (and with less pain), check out the article on Jeff Galloway’s training apps. Find out why his method works, how his apps help improve your form, and get your questions answered on whether you ever need to shorten or get rid of your walk breaks.